Google Denies TLD Keyword Ranking Effect

Top-level domain keywords don’t affect Google rankings

Google has categorically denied that it takes into account keywords in the top-level domain after a recent article claimed that a lawyer had seen an organic traffic boost after switching from a ‘.com’ to a ‘.attorney’ domain. “The TLD is not something we take into account there,” said Google’s John Mueller, adding that they “completely” ignore the words in the TLD. The company urged webmasters not to switch TLD for the sake of “vague promises” of ranking boosts.

Google rolls out green ‘Ad’ label for Search

Say goodbye to that little yellow ‘Ad’ label in Google Search results — it’s going green. After testing a green color for the symbol in several countries, Google has now rolled the change out globally “based on positive feedback from users and advertisers.” While it now makes the ‘Ad’ label the same colour as the display URL, the company insists its studies show the colour change doesn’t make it any harder for users to spot the symbol. “Our goal is to make our results page easy to use, and our labeling clear and prominent,” a Google spokesperson said.

AdWords to launch click-to-SMS ad extension

Google AdWords is testing a new type of ad extension to allow users to quickly send an SMS message to advertisers, similar to the existing click-to-call extension. The extension adds a small speech bubble icon with the word ‘TEXT’ underneath, and when clicked opens up the user’s default messaging app with an auto-populated message ready to send. Google has declined to comment on the test, only issuing a canned statement: “We’re always experimenting with new ways to connect our advertisers to customers but don’t have further details to share at this time.”